The present disclosure relates to methods of fabricating semiconductor devices.
Advances in the electronics industry have been driven by the rapid increase in the integration degree of semiconductor devices. The integration degree of semiconductor devices, i.e., the density of semiconductor devices that can be formed in a given planar area of a semiconductor substrate, acts as an important factor in determining the product price. That is, higher integration can decrease the product price of semiconductor memory devices. Therefore, the need for higher integration of semiconductor memory devices is increasing.
The integration degree of semiconductor devices is primarily determined by the feature size, i.e. the fineness of patterns that can be achieved using known manufacturing techniques. The feature size directly affects the planar area of a semiconductor substrate that is occupied by an electronic device, such as a unit memory cell. The feature size that can be obtained is greatly influenced by the level of micropattern forming technology that is available. Decreasing the feature size may require the use of extremely expensive semiconductor equipment and/or difficult semiconductor fabricating processes.